StarMade 0.19226 Released With Rail System

Posted on May 12th, 2015 04:14 AM EST

Finally the time has come to release the much anticipated Rail System. This update contains a full redesign of the docking and turrets system, as well as a ton of new features. The new rail/docking system also solves a lot of old problems.

Furthermore, thanks to the new devs, a lot of work has been done fixing bugs. They’re getting more and more familiar with the huge codebase, so bugfixing and work on new features will continue to speed up.

Due to the lack of usability and dynamic in the old docking system, we have decided to completely redesign the system from the ground up. The new design is far more suited for all the current demands, as well as things to come.

The old system is still functional so ships, blueprints, or other structures will not break. The only restriction is that the docking beam is replaced with a pure activation beam, but if needed, the docking can be turned back on in the server config.

Rail basics (docking)

The new Magnet block can be docked to any Rail, so long as the docking ship will not encounter a collision by doing so. This means no more docking zone boxes. Also, the orientation of your docked vessel can now be fully customized.

Rail movement

In addition to the removal of the docking zone, Rail blocks can be chained together in paths to allow for docked objects to move along them. The system is completely dynamic and allows for full control with the logic system.

Rail rotation

Rails are not the only new block allowing for docked objects and movement. Rotor blocks can be placed in your rail designs, or separately from them. The direction and angle of rotation can also be customized.

Rail interaction

Logic signal interactions and linked speed control blocks can dictate the direction, distance and speed of movement/rotation of the new Rail and Rotor blocks. Also, power and some of the shields are now shared between the rail-docks and the mothership, as well as every object in between.

Rail logic

The new rail blocks are also completely integrated with the the logic system in StarMade.

New Turret System

Since the old docking also included the turret system, it now has also been redesigned. Turrets can now be divided into multiple rotational axes. The most common example of that would be a turret base that can rotate horizontally, and a turret top which would rotate vertically.

New logic blocks

Several new logic blocks were added to expand the functionality of the logic system with StarMade’s gameplay and to help integrate the new Rail system. These new blocks include:

Button block (Provides a short (0.5 sec) ON signal then deactivates)

Flip-Flop block (Will only change its output when receiving an ON signal)

Wireless block (Allows logic systems to connect from ship to ship)

Remote block (Allows access to ship logic to be triggered from your action bar. Each block’s label can be changed by hitting ‘R’ on it)

Bug fixes

An issue has been resolved that caused lag spikes whenever a new player joined on a more populated server. Also the configuration for the hotbar is now set by ship. That means when you load a blueprint after setting it, you will get the exact hotbar you saved the blueprint with.

This unfortunately had the effect that currently all hotbars will reset once, but in the long run the new system is a lot more comfortable.

The login procedure on servers that require authentication has been improved, so that non-uplinked players now get an explanation as well as a prompt to enter their credentials or go to the registry to setup a new account. Also, the pesky error messages which blocked the real message have been removed.

We fixed some bugs probably causing a lot of java version errors, making the code more strict to its version dependencies, so hopefully a lot less problems for new players will occur related to that.